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First of all you should try to know from where all guests come, once you done that, try to figure out if there are any people as guests on your board that you know on a other board and from there clicked a link in your sig to the site. And THERE you ask them why not join or try to figure out why they just watch. There are of course many other ways, this is just one of them.

The million dollar question. I am not sure there is a clear cut answer. I have a forum with more members than posts. I also have a forum with few members that will be a big board before the year is out.

The difference between the 2?

One is a tech site. I have written tutorials and added a bunch of resources. Users have to register to access them. My feeling is because the content is useful and answers most questions visitors might have they have no need to post regularly. Some do, but, for the most part they lurk. Returning visits by registered users is very high and bounce rate very low.

The other site is an off topic community. Due to the nature of this type of forum there are many spammers signing up. The filters catch them so they aren&#39;t a problem. However I do have to prune members regularly. The actual users are very active. The forum gets a good amount of posts per day. The member lurker ratio is very low. In fact every member has posted a good amount of times. The core of this forum have been with me for 10 years following me to the new site after I sold the big board they were members of.

What&#39;s it all mean?

The key I think is to get a good core group of members. They bring more users and because they are made to feel at home they become active participants. In some cases good content could hurt you.

One is a tech site. I have written tutorials and added a bunch of resources. Users have to register to access them. My feeling is because the content is useful and answers most questions visitors might have they have no need to post regularly. Some do, but, for the most part they lurk. Returning visits by registered users is very high and bounce rate very low.

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I am very interested as to how that has worked out for you.. My newish site is aiming to have something like that, a tutorials bit where people sign up to view, my only fear is that they wont join just to read one tutorial and leave..

I&#39;m not sure that giving a limit of only members can see the content of your website/forum might work. I mean, I tend to worry that if they can&#39;t view it as a guest, they won&#39;t even bother registering, they&#39;ll just close the tab/window and find somewhere else to look for. at least, I think I&#39;ll do that unless I&#39;m so very in need of it, I&#39;m too lazy to look somewhere else, and the site itself is interesting. ^^"